Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Cases Of Type 2 Diabetes In Children Climbing

About 1,500 more kids and teens were being diagnosed annually with type 2 diabetes at the end of the study period (2011-2012) compared with the beginning (2002-2003)

Los Angeles Times:
Type 2 Diabetes, Once Considered A Disease For Adults, Is Increasingly Common In Tweens And Teens
For years, health experts have bemoaned the rise of childhood obesity in the United States. About 17% of kids and teens in the U.S. are now considered obese, a figure that has more than tripled since the 1970s, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A report in this week’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine lays out one of the consequences of all this excess weight: a corresponding increase in childhood cases of type 2 diabetes. (Kaplan, 4/14)

In other public health news —

Ventura County Star:
Stressed About Health? Don't Read This
Dr. Lewis Kanter, a Camarillo allergist and immunologist, offered the thought before an anxiety-driving lecture on research linking stress to cold viruses, asthma, weakened immune systems, fetal health, blood pressure, heart problems and, ultimately, length of life. "If you have lots of ACEs, you die sooner," he said, referring to adverse events that happen during childhood but stick with a person for life, ranging from physical abuse to watching a parent incarcerated. "It's something that tags along with people." When he started reviewing the burgeoning field of research on the health consequences of stress, Kanter was skeptical. Now, he's a believer who contends stress — and the way people react to it — causes disease. (Kisken, 4/13)